PATOLOGICUM – Interview with Piotr (voc.)

What you should know about PATOLOGICUM is that they have a great sense of humor. Many times I’ve almost laughed myself to death by what Piotr wrote to me. I laughed at myself. An accurate answer from somebody who has something to say isn’t a shame. But that had to be this way when two people, listening to different kind of music, meet. Me – a fan of thrash/death music and him, who loves brutal grind/death. But I tell you I learned a lot about this music and now have a different view on it. Well, some people listen to it, so as a journalist (and a curious man) I wanted to understand what is so attracting in this music. It is nice to listen to what a person says about a thing, but what’s the place you reach to gain best information? A source. A root. I don’t know what I was waiting for. Grind was there, existing as something marginal and unimportant. I thought I would never get interested in it. But I have to admit that Piotr did o a lot of great job, for now I have more respect for those who play grind. And that’s the second reason you should read this interview.

Hi! Here’s Emanuel from Metal Centre speaking. Who am I talking to?

Hi, it’s Piotr from PATOLOGICUM.

After having listened to you new album “Hecatomb of Aberration” and having thoroughly revised the meaning of the name of your band I can’t wait to ask: what kind of persons are you? Is there any danger in hanging up with you?

I’m not a psychologist, so I can’t speak about the mental state of my fellows. From my point of view I can say they are the right persons on right places. I can’t imagine playing with other people in PATOLOGICUM. I don’t know what they would say… but they are calm mostly… As for me, I wouldn’t hurt anybody until he hurts or disrespects me or any of my relatives. Generally you don’t have to be afraid of us until you fuck with us :-)…

How long have you been playing and who’s in the band at the moment?

We started thinking about PATOLOGICUM in year 2000 when Misiek felt he couldn’t get more out of his band he used to play then – EPITOME and REINFECTION. First person to join us was Maciek, who was a guitarist. Soon Daniel on bass and Jerzyk on guitar followed. The last one had to quit due to some personal reasons. It’s hard to travel 120 km to get to the rehearsal… That’s why there’s four of us and for the time being we don’t feel the need to change it.

You recorded “Hecatomb…”. What is the purpose, I mean: is it a demo or an official EP? What do you plan to do with it? Is any company going to release it, so that it could be easy to buy it?

We recorded “Hecatomb of Aberration” a year ago so it isn’t that long ago. Before that we didn’t have money to buy our stuff from the studio. I don’t know why you think it’s an EP. It’s half an hour long and is our official debut studio album! I released because that’s what I always wanted to do. We are absolutely INDEPENDENT. We decide what to do with our noise – from beginning to the end. It’s going to reach people who are interested in that kind of music. I hope so. It should work. Amen.

The copy I got was the version before mastering. How much did the sound change?

I hope it sounds better now, even a little… But it wasn’t that bad after all. We don’t play nice music as power/heavy or sympho/black bands do, so a little dirt and sand in our sound can be an additional plus for PATOLOGICUM.

Where did you record the album and how long did it take? Who mixed it?

I don’t know the personal info of the guy who was sitting in the room full of switches. But I think it wasn’t, unfortunately, neither Bob Rock nor Rick Rubin nor Thomas Skoksberg nor Scott Burns nor any of Moriss brothers. Though the guy shares the studio with his brother who looks exactly the same. Or maybe I wasn’t sober at that moment. We called the studio Bonded By Blood, because of the brothers who own it. It’s somewhere in Rzeszów… it’s a long way from the railway station. I don’t know Rzeszów, because I was born and raised in Kraków. The recording session took few months, for the mixing-guy was still busy with something. But I heard it’s in the fashion to spend few months in the studio – famous bands do that. Though recording my parts took only few hours and a bag of beers. So I guess I’m not professional enough…

Are you releasing the whole music that’s been recorded then?

Yes. Why are you asking about something that obvious? There are fourteen tracks on “Hecatomb Of Aberration” and one on split tape with PARRICIDE and DEFORMED, on which every band has to present one track live and one studio work and some video material to be watched on PC. The whole thing is called “Cut Your Head Before They Do” and is going to be released by Surgical Diathesis Records from Mielec (they released the second album by PARRICIDE “Illtreat”). Having this opportunity I’d like to say hello to Krzysiek and boys from PARRICIDE and DEFORMED.

Is there anything you would change in this material?

Nothing… it’s PERFECT!

Is it true that there’s a strong metal scene in Rzeszów? MISTERIA or NEOLITH come from there. What do you do to differ from them? Which bands are you close to?

NEOLITH isn’t from Rzeszów, neither am I. We don’t think they are our opponents, but rather our fellows. Besides we don’t play metal, but something close to grind. We know most of the bands from Rzeszów and – as you said – we are “close to” ABYSS and EPITOME. It’s quite natural, because boys form PATOLOGICUM play in these bands. Of course we wish all the best for Maniek’s (MISTERIA – comment by Emanuel) and Levi’s bands (NEOLITH has lately recorded a very good material).

I must admit that the title “mass sacrifice by aberration” is quite difficult for me to interpret. What do these words mean? Or maybe one shouldn’t pay attention at the titles, because metal music must “be aggressive”?

Everyone may interpret our title however he wants. For me it’s just fine sounding words which have the same meaning in English and Polish. There’s not much of such words… “Hecatomb Of Aberration” is a symbol of the world tolerating deviations: faggots parades, adopting children by lesbians and queens, tolerating robbing people, fucked up things on every level of life in so called society. All these things under the veil of liberal or even libertine way of life and democracy. I wrote the lyrics about things that make me laugh, are pitiful, irritate or make me write about they in a grotesque way. I don’t distribute these lyrics, because I don’t write them to be distributed. We don’t have any specific idea. People must like the titles, which should fit my sense of humor. I don’t give a fuck what people think about our music, titles and roaring instead of birds singing – which some people expect me to utter. Printing lyrics in the inlay is a waste of energy for me – I know more pleasant and useful ways to use it.

What makes you different from other grind metal bands? Why should we vote for PATOLOGICUM?

Maybe it’s that we don’t pretend to be someone else. We don’t try to create the atmosphere of mystery and cult. We are common guys if one cares or not. Should you vote for us? I don’t know. Let those who listen to our music judge it. But it’s always good to buy us a beer…

Who is who in Patologicum – what did you do (I mean: musically) before you got together?

Misiek used to play guitar in EPITOME (he still does) and in REINFECTION which, after having recorded an album for an American Ablated Records, died natural death. EPITOME released they long awaited debut album through English Conquer Records. It’s a great band, one of the most important on the Polish, or even I daresay European grind scene. Hats off to EPITOME. In our band Misiek wanted to try to be a drummer and he’s faster and faster. Maciek and Daniel play in ABYSS, too. It’s a band which performs an eclectic mixture of few modern metal styles. There’s black, death and something more in it. They keep trying. They have a good singer and a drummer. It’s not my favorite style, but they’re good in what they do so I’m glad they do it. They negotiate with a Spanish Sounds Of Decay Records – I hope it ends up with a contract and an official album on the western market. Meanwhile their debut album – released with help from Spaart Studio and thanks to their renouncement – is available. I tried to be a vocalist in thrash metal bands WILDER (1992-94) and WHOREHOUSE (1995-96) but I fortunately realized that I shouldn’t sing, because I have no chance to even get close to my favorite singers from Bay Area Thrash scene: EXODUS, FORBIDDEN, VIO-LENCE, TESTAMENT and so on… But I found out that I had a unique gift. I snore so loudly that no one sober is able to sleep in the same room. I’m able to generate similar sounds when I’m partly conscious, in a daytime. That makes me high in the hierarchy of the most degenerated grind throats. I practice every night, so I don’t think I’ll decrease my abilities. If I ever choke with saliva or my tongue because of my gift, then PATOLOGICUM will become as famous as NIRVANA and young girls will be wearing t-shirts with my face on and bring flowers on my grave.

Fuck me! What a speech… OK. Next question. How to create such music? Some special medicaments?

You should ask Misiek or Maciek – it’s their part. To make grind music you have to feel it and know something about it and – of course – like it very much. There are many bands which want to but can’t. The very first tape that Misiek bought himself was “Scum” by NAPALM DEATH, which should tell you something about him as a composer. Misiek told Maciek how to do it and now he brings grinding riffs which sound as if done ten years ago. A primal, unbound brutality doesn’t grow on trees. You have to carry it in yourself, it’s not easy to get infected, because this music isn’t for everybody. Talking about medicaments, I didn’t see anything special but beer… or maybe they don’t tell me the whole truth…

Where’s the point in playing so fast, that the listener looses half of the sounds and his shoes?

It doesn’t happen to us. We even think we’re too slow. I think you have to like it to listen to it – then your shoes will always be on your feet.

The scene reminds me of the theatre and all this “pretending” and “playing roles”. What is the essence of your performance? Do you pay more attention to what you communicate or is the whole grind thing just a music played for fun for people with a specific sense of humor?

You hit the bulls eye but at the same time you missed it… Well, specific sense of humor – bingo! Let all do what they think is right, unless he gets in our way – then will pour hot water or urine on him. I don’t feel like a missionary who wants to heal people and the world with his music. Everybody has got brain and free will, so use it! I’m not a kind of a messiah… though I’ll think about it…

While browsing through show reviews, I often see PATOLOGICUM there. Which of the shows you’ve had so far would you point as the better and the funniest one?

We don’t play that often. Anyway, for year and a half I’ve been working in three shifts and I didn’t have free weekends, so from time to time we had to ask Kostek from NECROPSY to replace me and roar instead of me. Now the situation is slightly different, but Misiek has a little daughter and some duties. I don’t think that playing shows is our to be or not to be. It’s surely nice to go out and play in front of the people who are interested in what we do. But we think that it’s not necessary. So if there’s a possibility to play, we do it. If not, let it be. The best or the worst show? I don’t like judging it. There’s always some fun and something that should have been done better. I don’t like discussing it and thinking about my mistakes. One should live the life the way it is, according to oneself and try to fit its rules.

Why did you reach for the instruments you play on? And what equipment would you like to own?

I don’t know, I don’t play on anything. Daniel had been working really fucking hard in Germany for all summer and bought himself a nice bass guitar and an amplifier. Maciek would do with a new guitar and Misiek would be happy to have his own drum. But we are realistic. We are not a wedding band, don’t smile to anybody who wants our asses for money. So let’s leave the dreams about the western equipment for others.

What is so great in singing about ugliness and awfulness?

And what is so great in singing about beauty and wonderfulness?

Do you have any musical idols? What inspires you?

It is clear that we are influenced by two great bands playing music which is called brutal death/grind. I mean MORTICIAN and DEAD INFECTION. They built the style. They have shifted the borders of musical extreme. You know, there are people who listen to country music and go to Mrągowo every year, there are some who listen to reggae and others to traditional jazz. We like grind and have our favorite bands. There already exists an established pattern of this music and we can only interpret it and add something from us. It’s much better than being a copy of DIMMU BORGIR or MORBID ANGEL for me.

Are you in touch with Polish underground scene? With which bands would you like to play?

Yes, because we are the part of it. We play with every band that is to play with. We don’t create problems. We are grown up and shit on some details, which are important for teenagers who “think that…”. Maybe we don’t prefer playing as the first set but it turns out we have to do it, we do it. I can only say what I think. For me the best band in this country, which plays brutal death metal together with grind is, was and will be PARRICIDE. It’s the most extreme music ever heard in Poland. And their new album sounds better than many famous band from USA. Right behind them there is DAMNABLE (in which Siwy plays drums) – we don’t have to be ashamed when they tour somewhere in the world. In grind category I have few favorite ones. Firstly, EPITOME for their futuristic vision of music and being frank. I hope for the reunion of DEAD INFECTION to be at least that good as they were some time ago. Hats off to other bands from Białystok – SQUASH BOWELS and NEROPATHIA – their music is also impressive, though their new songs are too soft for me. It’s hard to find the most interesting bands from all there young groups which emerge due to the renaissance of brutal music. Lately I’ve been listening to: PUTRIDITY (brutal death/grind – Gliwice), STOMBAMFIRER STEDKE (grind – Leszno) and PYORRHOEA (brutal death – Warszawa), ISOLATED (death metal – Tychy). Of course there are many interesting bands.

Do you read underground zines? Do you care what people write?

One more time I can speak only for myself. Yes, I read a lot of zines, mostly foreign ones. Personally I don’t care what people write in these papers. A long time ago I was producing a zine myself, then I was writing to some more or less known papers. That helped me to learn something about the musical press, including heavy metal one. Of course some opinions are important to me but I don’t take everything for granted. Some reviews or interviews can make me interested in some bands and vice versa. But I’m far from saying anything about the band plays like after reading only a review. And I’m very far from caring what people write about PATOLOGICUM. It often happens that people who write about our music are completely ignorant. They don’t know anything about grind. Basing on their foggy imaginations on how grind should sound they claim that PATOLOGICUM isn’t OK. It’s a laughing matter for me. It’s good to laugh they say…

What is Crude Entertainment for PATOLOGICUM?

It’s a rich protector and propaganda apparatus. Crude Entertainment and PATOLOGICUM are strongly connected. Crude releases and promotes PATOLOGICUM. Both are connected with me, so I don’t know what to say more…

Where is the strongest grind metal scene, according to you? In Poland, Czech, maybe Slovakia or some other country?

Definitely Holland! The Dutch bands are most inspiring in the whole Europe. I’m not trying to segregate music: grind here, death metal there. The extreme music is a wide and capable term including both styles. They are connected by the massive, honest and frank sound. I can tell you many names of the Dutch bands: INHUME, MANGLED, BILE, DISGORGE, PYAEMIA, DISAVOWED, NECROLOGY, SEVERE TORTURE, MY MINDS MINE, PROSTITUTE DISFIGUREMENT, ROMPEPROP, BRUTUS, CENTURIAN, PUTRIFIED, LAST DAYS OF HUMANITY, BLOODCUM, NECROVILE, HOUWITSER, BLOODBOIL, HATRED, SUPPOSITORY, MONOLITH and many more. In every country there are bands I know. There’s a lot of going on beyond our southern border. In Slovakia you can find EMBOLISM, CONTEMPT, SANATORIUM, OBLITERATE, SUFFOCATE and few other bands. And in Czech Republic there are really lots of interesting band, of which I could mention CEREBRAL TURBULENCY, ALIENATION MENTAL, PERVERSIST, AHUMADO GRANUJO, INGROWING (fucking great new record). That’s all, for there are a lot of bands that I like and I could tell about them really long…

Do you have problems in arranging shows? How many people attend your gigs on average?

Problems are to be overcome. I don’t count people standing before, because this information is useless for me. I don’t have any statistics concerning the number of people on our shows. I don’t care if there are 70 or 350 people (it ranges between these two numbers, if you are really interested). I don’t have the grind annual statistics – I’ve never been god in maths, anyway.

What do you expect the people who arrange gigs to do?

To pay for our travel and provide the equipment good enough so that we could hear each other. It’s great when you can find these… wires, you know, to fly over the stage – the same as Bon Jovi used the 80’s… I’d like to try that stuff… It must be SOMETHING… My dream is to have some circus things on the stage. You know, those “flexible” people, woman with a beard, a guy throwing knives and so on…

You had some gigs outside Poland. What is the difference between playing here and there? How far did you travel?

Every gig is different. We played in Slovakia and it was great. Cheap tequila and fantastic hotel in Svidnik. Maybe soon we’ll go to Germany?

How beautiful is your place for rehearsals? In my imagination I can see the walls covered with drastic paper cuts and shocking pictures…

It’s nothing unusual about our place.. apart from us and a pile of beer cans. I guess you’re flying in the world of imagination, mirages and confabulation. The dreamer! Don’t forget life! I told you, we are common guys.

Would you agree that an average grind “song” can be described as: “it lasts about 1,5 minute in which 30 seconds takes an intro and then goes the mayhem which consists of three verses and choruses in which vocal lines remind the sounds of many pigs”? Isn’t it annoying that grind music is so predictable?

If you see it that way, it’s your problem. Of course we do something that was invented 10 years ago. I don’t think any of us has Lutosławski’s or Penderencki’s passion. We have worse technique than ATHEIST or PESTILENCE so we don’t even dream about being original. We are just faithful to what we do and don’t try to force anyone to listen to us. Every style has it’s own forms of expression. Everyone, who’s interested in making music belonging to some specific style has to follow the rules. Let’s begin with the fact that I don’t concern myself as a musician. I just have fun with what we do in PATOLOGICUM. I doubt if you are able to emit sound as I do even if you like and want to play this kind of music. I appreciate bands which play original music, which is really artistic and honest – I mean i.e. INSOMNIA, LUX OCCULTA, TENEBRIS or ATROPHIA RED SUN. But these pearls sink in the swine mud aspiring to be “stars” like Nuclear Blast bands – for musical market is a business, not an art and the album is supposed to sell itself well. To sell a lot of copies, the album must fit some mass taste and be “media friendly”. That’s why people invented leather clothes, futuristic shoes, tight t-shirts, hair gel and so on to attract young people’s attention and tell them that the band is great, for it looks fashionable. Look at KOVENANT or some other gothic sissies. Those guys look worse than shit. No tolerance for assholes and people selling themselves in the name of so called art. Music that we play is quite far from what’s going on in metal. We are, so to say, the marginal thing. Grind is an off music. You like it or you don’t. No need to discuss it.

What do you plan to do with “Hecatomb…”? Maybe a video clip? Where do you play live?

We don’t make video clips – Madonna and hip hop teams do. The shows – yes. We’ve had some in Kraków and Rzeszów in April.

Use five words to describe every member of PATOLOGICUM.

Misiek – resolute, stubborn, fast, gifted, unpredictable.

Daniel – nice, diligent, relentless, firm, active.

Maciek – talented, lazy, decided, vindictive, inventive.

Me – thanks for asking but it’s not your business…

How can one contact PATOLOGICUM?

We have website: www.patologicum.prv.pl. We have e-mail: crudeent@isk.net.pl . We have traditional mail: Piotr Popiel, Al.Słowackiego 31/10, 31-159 Kraków.

Thanks for the interview. The last words on any topic belong to you…

Yeah. Our Council of Elder SUCKED FROM THE POOL is pleased to inform you that tomorrow you’ll turn into a carp. But seriously.. thank you and thank Sylwester for everything you’ve done for us!!! If anyone feels the need to write to us, don’t hesitate. We offer a fine record and two fashionable t-shirts.

Truth is metal.

All the pleasure’s mine…

Translated from polish by YM